VISUAL VS VERBAL

Collaboration - Which is More Important – Design or Content?

When designing a website, one of the major quandaries that designers face is whether to create a fantastic design and then work the content to fit, or should they firstly create the content and then apply the design to this framework.

Content is important and design helps to engage people visiting the site. User experience is key to the long-term success of a website. So where should the focus lie in the initial stages of designing a website? Poor design can have an impact on great content, whereas bad content can hinder a great design.

In this post we will examine both sides of the argument.

From a Design Perspective

Design is an important element of the website. It sets the tone for your company, it conveys your brand values and it highlights your services and products to their best effect. A poorly designed ecommerce website will not attract the desired consumer interest if the products are not shown at their best. Equally so, travel websites need to tell a story and draw the consumer in as part of a complete holiday experience. Imagery, colours and fonts all contribute to appealing to your target audience.

From a Content Perspective

The purpose of content is to bring greater traffic to your website. Unless people discover your business via your own marketing campaigns, how will your website receive a high volume of traffic each month? The best design will not prevent a website from being ineffective if it has poor content. Google's algorithms strongly favour content that is unique and presents original ideas. Therefore, design on its own will not impact on your ranking in Google's search results. Before your intended audience can be impressed with your design, you need to get them to your site. Therefore valuable, relevant and consistent content is key to attracting and retaining your audience.

This means that while content and design are equally as important, priority must be given to content as this is the marketing tool that complies with Google's search criteria. When website development begins with content, the process will be a lot quicker than if it had started with design.  (For more information on Collaboration click here)

To obtain the correct balance between design and content, you need to have a clear idea of what your website is about. What will it sell? Who is your customer? What message to you want to portray for your business? From this, you can establish whether your site should incorporate video, blogs, infographics etc. All this will help determine the content and from this design will develop which allows the content to be shown to its best effect.

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